At ten minutes past four o'clock on the second morning of the present
month (March, 1877), the President of the Senate of the United States,
in the presence of the two Houses of Congress, made this announcement:
"The whole number of the electors appointed to vote for President and
Vice-President of the United States is 369, of which a majority is 185.
The state of the vote for President of the United States, as delivered
by the tellers, and as determined under the act of Congress, approved
January 29, 1877, on this subject, is: for Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio,
185 votes; for Samuel J. Tilden, of New York, 184 votes;" and then,
after mentioning the votes for Vice-President, he proceeded: "Wherefore
I do declare, that Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, having received a
majority of the whole number of electoral votes, is duly elected
President of the United States for four years, commencing on the fourth
day of March, 1877."
Mr. Hayes was thus declared elected by a majority of one. If any vote
counted for him had been counted on the other side, Mr. Tilden, instead
of Mr. Hayes, would have had the 185 votes; if it had been rejected
altogether, each would have had 184 votes, and the House of
Representatives would immediately have elected Mr. Tilden. One vote,
therefore, put Mr. Hayes into the presidential office.
To make up the 185 votes counted for him, 8 came from Louisiana and 4
from Florida. Whether they should have been thus counted is a question
that affects the honor, the conscience, and the interests of the
American people. There is not a person living in this country who has
not a direct concern in a just answer. Not one will ever live in it
whose respect for this generation will not depend in some degree upon
that answer.
The 12 votes were not all alike. Some had one distinction, some another.
But, not to distract attention by the discussion of several transactions
instead of one, and because one in the present instance actually
determined the result, I will confine my observations to a single vote.
For this purpose let us take one of the votes from Louisiana, that, for
instance, of Orlando H. Brewster.
Brewster was not appointed an elector, inasmuch as he did not receive a
majority of the votes cast by the people of Louisiana, and inasmuch also
as he could not have been appointed if he had received them all.